Leveraging Voice of the Customer 20/20 Manufacturing Matters! Bryan - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Leveraging Voice of the Customer 20/20 Manufacturing Matters!

Bryan Lilly, Ph.D. Market Research Insights, LLC University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Marketing Professor

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Goals / Agenda

Improved VOC efforts with respect to:

• Decisions about when to pursue
• Ability to navigate/leverage

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➢ Background ➢

• 1. Main benefits

➢

• 2. Main drawbacks

➢

• 3. Miscellaneous nuggets and Logistics

(Q&A throughout)

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Background-1

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What are Voice of Customer (VOC) efforts?

• Information from customers about their

desires, experiences (positive and negative) and expectations

• Process; hopefully unbiased
• Not just ‘complaint channel’ or comments to

sales force

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Background-2

Idea sources (read, heard, done) Performance tactics depend on control level Value varies; not “one size fits all”

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Part 1 Main Benefits

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Main benefits: 3 examples then list

• 1. Fabricating company; also service and environmental control

systems, GC capabilities ➢ Project work; get initial specs and build ➢ Examples: warehouse storage areas, refrigeration and ventilation projects ➢ Build mainly on-site: customize as they go is a big plus ➢ Key Problem: on-site downtime

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Main benefits: 3 examples then list

• 1. Fabricating company:

Voice of Customer (VOC) effort

• Dedicated more space at their location for off-site design/build

Inserted elements of customer site. Started with hospital

• Had customer visit and react to iterations

Results

• Improved designs (vs. higher costs of design then change)
• Less down-time on site; final install was much faster
• Customers gained knowledge of capabilities, “I didn’t know

that was possible,” or “I didn’t know you could do that.”

• Better relationships with customers; referrals

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Main benefits: 3 examples then list

• 2. Firetruck manufacturer

➢ Good reputation; high quality ➢ Innovation issue ➢ Complex purchase; input sometimes missing from “users”

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Main benefits: 3 examples then list

• 2. Firetruck manufacturer

Voice of Customer (VOC) effort

• Took designers and other employees to customer locations
• Ride alongs over two months; happy-talking user group
• TONS of photos and Post-It notes

Results

• Over 80 ideas; over 20 implemented at time of presentation
• Reduced new-feature “guessing risk”
• Improved position in market (innovated and know-users)
• Learned TRAINING was a key purchase driver (affirmed quality

viewed as high, but that was also true among competitors)

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Main benefits: 3 examples then list

• 3. Equipment servicing

➢ Many competitors; almost ‘commodity’ ➢ Family culture ➢ Steady sales but wondering, “What are we missing?”

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Main benefits: 3 examples then list

Voice of Customer (VOC) effort

• Interviews with customers and prospects
• “Carl the polite skeptic”
• Key prospect interviewee; unknown-ownership issue

Results

• Changed conversation during prospect discussions
• Showed more empathy to buyer ‘changeover’ concerns
• Unsure about impact
• 3. Equipment servicing

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Main benefits: list

• 1. Improved products/services (drives value for customer)
• 2. Fix small problems before they become big
• 3. Stronger relationships and referrals
• 4. Challenge beliefs about relative strengths/weaknesses
• 5. Improved discussions with prospects
• 6. _______________________
• 7. _______________________
• 8. _______________________

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Part 2 Drawbacks

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Main drawbacks: examples and list

Pull up “potty-training” diapers in UK Healthy food; hits and misses by McDonalds Starbucks and Pepsi Mazagran (eventually Frappuccino) “The thing is, Starbucks got this half right. They correctly realized customers wanted a cold, sweet, bottled coffee beverage. They just wanted it to resemble a milk shake, not a soda.”

http://trustedinsight.trendsource.com/trusted-insight-trends/the- 10-biggest-market-research-fails-of-all-time (abridged)

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Main drawbacks: examples and list

Famous example: The “Pepsi Challenge” and New Coke, where the Coke’s VOC method missed two critical issues: 1) Tradition-value-driver 2) CL-sip-test

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Main drawbacks: examples and list

Home/auto insurance ➢ Subsidiary of large national company ➢ What makes consumers happy/unhappy with us? ➢ Online and phone surveys ➢ Report meeting

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➢ “But don’t people buy because of what their agent recommends, and did you get data from agents?”

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Home improvement ➢ Regional home improvement company ➢ Why are sales low in this region? ➢ Online and phone surveys ➢ Final report

Main drawbacks: examples and list

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➢ “We tried those recommendations before; they didn’t work”

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Main drawbacks: list

• 1. Misleading or misinterpreted input. Customers may not

know what would make them happy (noted by Henry Ford).

• 2. Dollar cost
• 3. Time
• 4. Uncertain payoff
• 5. Channel sensitivity (that’s my customer)
• 6. _______________________
• 7. _______________________
• 8. _______________________

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Part 3

• Misc. Nuggets

&

Logistics

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Miscellaneous Nuggets

• 1. Customer reactions to being surveyed
• 2. Benchmark for later use (e.g., “Did this initiative work?”)
• 3. External recognition (e.g., Baldrige or industry based)
• 4. Budget (project vs. process, who “owns, etc.)
• 5. Can tip competition (can occur during test-market efforts)
• 6. _______________________
• 7. _______________________
• 8. _______________________

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Logistics

• a. Gutter guards
• b. KISS

c. Priorities

• d. Reporting
• e. Specialist pros/cons

f. Timelines

• g. Phases with “optional” parts
• h. “Our responsibilities”

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Logistics

Gutter guards: What parts of this experience irritate me, and can we design the VOC effort to make these parts better? KISS: Simplicity is good, but don’t mistake simplicity for

• ver-simplifying. Analogy to annual physical (I’ll just check

your pulse).

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Logistics

Priorities:

• What problem are we trying to

solve, and why?

• To make-a-decision/act, what do

we want to know? Reporting: How will people find it most useful to review results; now and in the future? Ask early about these.

• Word document vs PPT (level of details)
• Descriptive results versus recommendations
• Information: tables versus graphics
• Data files (raw and/or tabled)

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Logistics

Specialist pros/cons:

• Industry expertise
• Research methods expertise
• Problem-focus expertise
• Management/implementation expertise

(Pick desired elements; finding all together is rare.)

Timelines: what causes delays

• Level of involvement desired by varied constituents
• Other priorities surface
• Data acquisition (scheduling for focus groups, etc.)

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Logistics

Phases with optional parts:

• Sometimes it’s good to say, “we learned enough; let’s stop here”
• Specify deliverables/phase

Our responsibilities: examples:

• Point of contact
• Meeting coordination
• Provide input
• Interviewees (contacts and secured permissions)

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Logistics: other suggestions?

• 1. _______________________
• 2. _______________________
• 3. _______________________
• 4. _______________________
• 5. _______________________

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Recommendation for Customer Focused Companies:

Periodically gather unbiased information to assess:

• What customers think of you and your industry (desires,

experiences and expectations).

• How you can improve experiences so customers are more

likely to stay with you and recommend you to others. Where, when and how:

• Where: multiple touchpoints
• When:
• Coinciding with key experiences
• Sometimes planned/periodic (e.g., quarterly or other)
• How: Can be conversations or formal surveying. Some technical

expertise can be helpful, but none of this is voodoo-magic.

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Ok, what did I miss, given the goals? Questions?

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